June 18th, 2013 11:30 PM

This film publicity image released by Warner Bros. Pictures shows Henry Cavill as Superman, left, and Amy Adams as Lois Lane in “Man of Steel.” AP/Warner Bros. Pictures

LOS ANGELES—Superman blockbuster “Man of Steel” soared to the top of the North American box office this weekend, scoring a $116.6-million opening despite mixed reviews, figures showed Monday.

The Zach Snyder-directed movie stars British actor Henry Cavill as the iconic superhero, with Oscar-nominated actress Amy Adams playing Daily Planet journalist Lois Lane in a cast that also includes Russell Crowe, Kevin Costner and Diane Lane.

The production is the latest attempt to build a money-spinning franchise around the planet Krypton’s most famous son, and follows a 2006 reboot by Warner Bros—”Superman Returns”—which ultimately stalled after one film.

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Snyder’s movie has divided critics, however, scoring a modest 56 percent rating on the movie review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, with many complaining of an over-reliance on computer-generated imagery.

Another new film, “This Is the End,” a comedy starring James Franco and Jonah Hill, opened in second place with $20.7 million, figures from the industry tracker Exhibitor Relations showed.

Sleeper hit “Now You See Me,” about an FBI agent and an Interpol detective who hunt down a team of illusionists performing bank heists during their shows, held on to third place with $11 million.

Low-budget horror film “The Purge”—which scored a surprisingly strong opening last week to top the box office—fell to fifth place with $8.3 million.

However, the $3 million Universal feature starring Ethan Hawke and “Game of Thrones” star Lena Headey has now earned a total of $52 million, with a sequel already in the works, according to industry reports.

In sixth place was the Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson comedy “The Internship,” which sees the “Wedding Crashers” co-stars competing with tech-savvy wizards after scoring an internship at Google. The film took $7.1 million.

In seventh spot was animated film “Epic” with $6.29 million, a whisker ahead of “Star Trek: Into Darkness” with $6.26 million. The eighth-placed film has earned $211.1 million so far.

Another science-fiction offering, “After Earth” starring Will Smith, was ninth with $4.1 million.

Superhero sequel “Iron Man 3″ rounded out the top 10 with $3 million in its seventh week, for a total of $399.7 million since its release in May.